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NRIs Virtual Meeting I

The 1st virtual meeting of the National, Regional and Youth IGF Initiatives (NRIs), took place on 1 February 2018 at 15:00 p.m. UTC.

The meeting was hosted by the IGF Secretariat’s NRIs Focal Point, Anja Gengo. Agenda is attached to this document as Annex A1 and a list of Meeting Participants as Annex A2. The list of share documents is attached to this report as Annex A3.

The Host asked the participants to review the shared agenda for its final approval. From the IGF-USA, it was suggested to add under the AoB, a brief update on the upcoming ICANN and WSIS meetings and its relevance for the NRIs, as well as to add a feedback on the NRIs joint booth at the 12th IGF. With these additions, the agenda was adopted (Annex A1).

Summary of key points

The Host noted that the main purpose of this meeting is to provide feedback on the 2017 NRIs joint work, and discuss potential work items for the IGF 2018 work cycle, taking into accounts shared inputs at the NRIs Coordination Session hosted during the 12th IGF. These inputs are integrated in the agenda (Annex A1). The IGF-USA coordinator suggested to have the agenda items on a same or similar subject, discussed together.

It was reminded that during the NRIs Coordination Session, a couple of NRIs raised concerns that the usage of the NRIs mailing list goes beyond its initial purpose. It was suggested by some to potentially develop new mailing list focused only on the NRIs joint work, and have another one for postings of different nature. It was added that a set of guidelines or Terms of Reference could be developed for the mailing list(s).

Sri Lanka IGF noted that the mailing list was used in promotional purposes for entities outside of the NRIs network, and that they are supportive toward developing a new work mailing list, moderated by a neutral party.

The IGF-USA coordinator said that any external requests for addressing the NRIs should go through the IGF Secretariat NRIs Focal Point, that could consolidate relevant inputs and have them shared with the NRIs. It was added that the NRIs mailing list should be primary a work list; but, at the same time, that it is important to keep open communication channels with the wider community. An idea to think of is to create an additional mailing list, where the work list will not be overburden with messages irrelevant to the NRIs.

A coordinator for the Argentina IGF said that the NRIs need primary a working space and not a group for social dissemination. At the same time, it is important to think about having effective outreach channels.

The Asia-Pacific IGF co-coordinator agreed with the IGF-USA and Argentina IGF statements, with underlining that having a dedicated workspace is very important.

UK IGF co-coordinator suggested having two NRIs mailing lists: one for outreach, and another one for the NRIs joint work.

Coordinator for the Mexico IGF noted that the current NRIs mailing list should be focused on the NRIs joint work, and all other matters should be sent to the NRIs Focal Point, that would consolidate received inputs and send them to the NRIs.

As an example of how the mailing list could be moderated and structured, the IGF-USA coordinator explained how the mailing list of the ICANN’s Cross-Community Working Groups is organized. It was said that the membership is divided into three categories: members with full posting rights (equivalent to the NRIs coordinators); other participants with posting rights and observers who do not have posting rights, but from time to time are invited by the Chair of the Group to provide responses.

The IGF-USA coordinator asked for the name of the current list to be changed, as it contains only the name ‘regionals’. It was advised that the name should indicate that the list is about all NRIs, regardless of organizational level.

It was agreed that the consultations on this matter should continue through the NRIs mailing list for reaching final consensus.

Many noted that the NRIs main session is an important join activity and that it should be continued.

From the UK-IGF, organization of the session was supported. It was noted that, in regard to the preparatory process, the NRIs are challenged with having different calendars of activities while consulting their communities for determining the topic of interest. In addition, the NRIs should look at the MAG processes in order to balance the overall preparation of their own session(s).

One observer noted that the NRIs should try to schedule their own annual meetings in different time, so that the overlapping of meetings can be avoided.

Coordinators from Argentina IGF and Italy IGF suggested rethinking the format of the session, as having only 3 minutes for interventions was not seen as enough. Coordinator from the Argentina IGF added that it is important to keep the existing working procedures of developing the session topic(s) in a bottom up manner.

From the Mexico IGF, it was said that the main session should be used for promoting the NRIs intersessional work, and because of this, a more focused intersessional work is needed.

Coordinator from the IGF-USA added that the impact of the NRIs main session goes beyond the IGF annual meeting venue. An example of higher-level government officials from three different countries was given, where these started supporting the organization of the IGF processes in their countries, after they attended the NRIs main session.

From the Bolivia IGF, it was added that a substantive topic for the joint, main session should be defined in a bottom up manner.

While addressing the purpose and organization of the NRIs Collaborative Sessions, many noted their importance in addressing the substantive issues, their unique organizational procedures in accordance with the IGF principles and long-term benefit of having the NRIs establishing good connections among themselves.

For the NRIs Coordination session, the IGF-USA co-coordinator noted that historically, these sessions were organized for several years now, on incentives of the IGF Secretariat. For the last two years, a very important added value to these sessions is that it represents a direct meeting between the NRIs, the UNDESA, IGF MAG Chair and the IGF Secretariat. Because of these reasons, its continuation is important. The coordinator suggested to have the session duration extended to two hours.

Co-coordinator from the Italy IGF confirmed the importance of the coordination session, with adding that the agenda should continue to be developed in a bottom up manner, and expressed hope that responses to raised questions at the session will follow from relevant addresses.

From the Japan IGF it was advised to the IGF Secretariat to avoid scheduling the NRIs related sessions at the same time, as a number of them were overlapping.

On the question how to increase the visibility for the NRIs, it was advised from the UK-IGF to change the title for the NRIs dedicated menu tab on the IGF website from ‘IGF Initiatives’ to ‘NRIs’. Many noted that the NRIs gain visibility through organizing their joint session(s) at the IGF annual meeting.

Some remarked that the NRIs have enough visibility.

The IGF Secretariat informed that it would continue running bottom up consultations among the NRIs, on developing the publication that will look at the IGF processes. Its structure was shared with the participants, to comment on (Annex A3). It was said that this hopefully could help increasing the visibility of the NRIs work, but also could serve as an exchange of good practices for NRIs processes improvements.

On behalf of the ICANNWiki, it was said that they are willing to support the NRIs for increasing the visibility, within their capacity. A pilot project was created for one of the previously held ICANN meetings, where a couple of NRIs were described and presented in a short publication (Annex A3.1).

Some coordinators said that the organization of the NRIs booth adds to the visibility of the NRIs. The coordinator from the Croatia IGF shared her experience from this year‘s booth, saying that many visited the booth in order to learn more about the NRIs and how they can join the existing ones or start their own processes.

All participants were informed that the MAG Chair will share the final outcome document of the MAG Working Group on Multi-year Strategic Work Programme (WG-MWP), and will inform the NRIs when and how the consultations with them will be conducted.

While discussing options for supporting the NRIs attendance at the annual IGF meetings, some suggested to have a dedicated call on the subject, for exploring potential sources for funding.

The IGFSA Chairman responded that the IGFSA is primarily focused on supporting the organization of the NRIs annual meeting in developing countries, despite that this organization allows providing fellowships to individuals.

The IGF-USA coordinator briefed on the upcoming ICANN 61 meeting in San Juan (10-15 March), as well as on the WSIS meeting in Geneva (19-23 March). It was said that the IGF Secretariat will be present on both, and that hopefully there will be a dedicated meeting between the NRIs and the IGF Secretariat. A full announcement will be shared on the NRIs mailing list.

Next Steps

A full summary report will be sent to the NRIs mailing list, for further consultations.

The IGF Secretariat will communicate with the NRIs if this Report should be submitted to the IGF 2017 Taking Stock process.

Next meeting: A doodle poll will be sent in no more than fifteen days from this meeting, for scheduling the next virtual meeting.

For any suggestions or questions regarding the Report, kindly contact the IGF Secretariat, NRIs Focal Point at: [email protected].